Abandoned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/628,435 entitled "PROGRAM CONTROLLED SYSTEM FOR FORMS ENGINEERING" is directed to a system supporting the development of specifications for forms that range in complexity from simple, single page text-based documents to forms characterized by a plurality of distinct features including, inter alia, graphic and image based information, multi-page format, differing font styles, carbon and carbonless reproduction, perforation management, and color contrast. The above system further permits the development of engineering and manufacturing information as part of the specification.
In this context, the above-described system provides an extremely flexible, simple to use mechanism to prepare simple and more complex forms as may be dictated by the user. In that embodiment, the focus was on the more complex forms, and the control parameters used to permit production printing on a commercial print shop scale. There are, of course, many other print output systems employed in the normal course of business. These print systems will range the entire spectrum, from desktop laser printers to the large in-house XEROX printers used by many Fortune 500 corporations. In addition, electronic forms are used on computer workstations and networks for the collection, validation and processing of information completely on screen.
In the past, forms were engineered for a specifically delineated print engine, and were, therefore, limited to that engine or similarly structured print systems. This required that the same form be re-engineered for each of the differing print engines contemplated as an output device; an expensive and time consuming process. Moreover, forms engineered for specific print engines could not be used for electronic data collection and routing per se.